Noise induces rare events in granular media
Statistical Mechanics
2016-09-08 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
The granular Leidenfrost effect (B. Meerson et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 024301 (2003), P. Eshuis et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 258001 (2005)) is the levitation of a mass of granular matter when a wall below the grains is vibrated giving rise to a hot granular gas below the cluster. We find by simulation that for a range of parameters the system is bistable: the levitated cluster can occasionally break and give rise to two clusters and a hot granular gas above and below. We use techniques from the theory of rare events to compute the mean transition time for breaking to occur. This requires the introduction of a two-component reaction coordinate.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1609.02102,
title = {Noise induces rare events in granular media},
author = {Evgeniy Khain and Leonard M. Sander},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.02102},
year = {2016}
}